Battery mounting structure for vehicle

ABSTRACT

A battery mounting structure for a vehicle is provided to include a case having a first internal member that is disposed to be spaced parallel to an upper side of a lower panel of the case and a second internal member that is disposed perpendicular to the first internal member, and configured to accommodate a plurality of battery modules therein using the first internal member and the second internal member. An outer side member is provided in a shape protruding toward the outside on an outer side of the case. The battery modules are disposed in a stacking direction of battery cells that is parallel to a longitudinal direction of the first internal member.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No.10-2020-0050812, filed Apr. 27, 2020, the entire contents of which isincorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a structure for mounting a battery ina hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle.

2. Description of the Related Art

The market demand for eco-friendly vehicles such as hybrid vehicles andelectric vehicles is increasing, and to meet various demands for sucheco-friendly vehicles, it is essential to increase an energy capacity ofa battery mounted within the vehicles. Therefore, there is a need for atechnology capable of securing sufficient durability and safety whilemounting the battery at a level capable of providing maximum energycapacity in a limited space of the vehicle.

The contents described as the related art have been provided merely toassist in understanding the background of the present disclosure andshould not be considered as corresponding to the related art known tothose having ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a battery mountingstructure for a vehicle capable of providing an energy capacity requiredin an eco-friendly vehicle by securing as much space as possible for abattery to be mounted in the vehicle, and ultimately improvingproductability of the vehicle by securing sufficient safety anddurability from a collision accident of the vehicle.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, abattery mounting structure for a vehicle may include: a case having afirst internal member disposed to be spaced parallel to an upper side ofa lower panel and a second internal member disposed perpendicular to thefirst internal member, and configured to accommodate a plurality ofbattery modules therein using the first internal member and the secondinternal member; and an outer side member provided in a shape thatprotrudes toward the outside on an outer side of the case. The batterymodules may be disposed with a stacking direction of battery cellsparallel to a longitudinal direction of the first internal member.

The outer side of the case may include straight side portions formed ina straight line on both sides of the case in parallel with the secondinternal member, and bending portions which connect both ends of the twostraight side portions and include at least a partially bent portion,and the outer side member may be provided in a shape that protrudes fromthe straight side portions toward the outside of the case. The batterymodule may be disposed such that both ends thereof in a directionperpendicular to the stacking direction of the battery cells are fixedto the first internal member and at least one of both ends in thestacking direction of the battery cells is supported by the secondinternal member.

The first internal member may be made of beams having a rectangularcross section with a plurality of closed spaces formed therein; andfixing flanges of both ends of the battery module may be fixed to anupper side surface of the first internal member. Side wall portionsfacing the battery cells may be provided perpendicular to the lowerpanel of the case to support surfaces of the battery cells located atthe ends in the stacking direction of the battery cells of the batterymodule in a flat manner, and a height in which the side wall portions ofthe second internal member protrude upward from the lower panel may beformed to be ⅔ or more of a height of the battery module.

The battery module may omit an end plate, and the side wall portions ofthe second internal member may be configured to function as the endplate of the battery module. The second internal member may have sidewall portions for supporting surfaces of the battery cells disposed atthe ends in the stacking direction of the battery cells of the batterymodule provided on both sides thereof, and an insertion space forinserting another object may be provided between the two side wallportions.

A battery controller may be inserted into the insertion space of thesecond internal member, and a connector of the battery controller may bedisposed toward an upper side of the second internal member. The batterycontroller may be fixed using an upper side surface of the secondinternal member.

An independent end plate fixed to the case may be provided to supportthe surface of the battery cell on the side that is not supported by thesecond internal member among both ends in the stacking direction of thebattery cells of the battery module. The independent end plate mayintegrally include an inclined bracket that forms a supporting force tosupport surfaces of the battery cells, as a cross section inclined withrespect to the surfaces of the battery cells.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objectives, features, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be more clearly understood from the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a battery mounting structure for a vehicleaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a case of FIG. 1 according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a process of mounting a battery module inthe case according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the battery module of FIG. 3 observed fromabove according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line V-V for a state inwhich the battery module is disposed in the case of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI for a state inwhich the battery module is disposed in the case of FIG. 3 according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a view three-dimensionally illustrating a structure in whichthe battery module is mounted by extracting only a portion indicated byline VI-VI from FIG. 3 according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a view describing that a battery controller is installed in aninsertion space of a second internal member according to the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similarterm as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such aspassenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses,trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety ofboats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles,electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-poweredvehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived fromresources other than petroleum). As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicleis a vehicle that has two or more sources of power, for example bothgasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles.

Although exemplary embodiment is described as using a plurality of unitsto perform the exemplary process, it is understood that the exemplaryprocesses may also be performed by one or plurality of modules.Additionally, it is understood that the term controller/control unitrefers to a hardware device that includes a memory and a processor andis specifically programmed to execute the processes described herein.The memory is configured to store the modules and the processor isspecifically configured to execute said modules to perform one or moreprocesses which are described further below.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or”includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted items.

Unless specifically stated or obvious from context, as used herein, theterm “about” is understood as within a range of normal tolerance in theart, for example within 2 standard deviations of the mean. “About” canbe understood as within 10%, 9%, 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%, 0.5%,0.1%, 0.05%, or 0.01% of the stated value. Unless otherwise clear fromthe context, all numerical values provided herein are modified by theterm “about.”

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, a battery mounting structure for a vehicleaccording to the present disclosure may include a case 9 having a firstinternal member 3 disposed to be spaced parallel to an upper side of alower panel 1 and a second internal member 5 disposed perpendicular tothe first internal member 3, and configured to accommodate a pluralityof battery modules 7 therein using the first internal member 3 and thesecond internal member 5; and an outer side member 11 provided in ashape that protrudes toward the outside on an outer side of the case 9.

FIG. 1 illustrates a state in which the battery modules 7 are allmounted in the case 9 by applying the present disclosure observed fromabove, and a cover (not illustrated) may be coupled to an upper side ofFIG. 1 and may be then mounted on the vehicle. The outer side of thecase 9 includes straight side portions 13 formed in a straight line(e.g., linearly) on both sides of the case 9 in parallel with the secondinternal member 5, and bending portions 15 which connect both ends ofthe two straight side portions 13 and include at least a partially bentportion. The lower panel 1 may be installed to block lower side surfacesof the straight side portions 13 and the bending portions 15 and may bemounted on the vehicle in a state in which the battery modules 7 aremounted in a space formed by the straight side portions 13, the bendingportions 15, and the lower panel 1 and the cover is covered.

The outer side member 11 may be provided in a shape that protrudes fromthe straight side portions 13 toward the outside of the case 9.Therefore, in the case of collision accident of the vehicle or the like,when an impact force acts on the outer side member 11 of the case 9, astructure capable of dispersing and supporting the impact force by thefirst internal members 3 inside the case 9 is formed, thereby making itpossible to more safely protect the battery modules mounted therein.

The battery module 7 may be formed by stacking a plurality of batterycells 17 in one direction, as illustrated in FIG. 4. Referring to FIG.3, the battery module 7 may be disposed such that the stacking directionof the battery cells 17 is parallel to a longitudinal direction of thefirst internal member 3. Both ends of the battery module 7 in adirection perpendicular to the stacking direction of the battery cells17 may be fixed to the first internal member 3.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the first internal member 3 may be formed ofbeams having a rectangular cross section with a plurality of closedspaces formed therein; and fixing flanges 19 of both ends of the batterymodule 7 may be fixed to an upper side surface of the first internalmember 3. For example, fixing bolts for fixing the fixing flanges 19 ofthe battery module 7 protrude on the upper side surface of the firstinternal member 3, and the fixing flanges 19 may be inserted into thefixing bolts and may be locked with nuts. The fixing bolts may penetratethe fixing flanges 19 and may be fastened to the first internal member3, or a combination of these fastening structures is used, therebymaking it possible to fix the battery modules 7 to the first internalmember 3. Notably, the present disclosure is not limited to fixing boltsand nut and other fastening mechanisms may be used.

In addition, the battery module 7 may be disposed such that at least oneof both ends in the stacking direction of the battery cells 17 issupported by the second internal member 5. In other words, the batterymodule 7 may omit an end plate, and the second internal member 5 mayoperate as the end plate of the battery module 7. As a result, since thebattery cells may be further configured in place of the end plateprovided in the conventional battery module 7, a battery system having alarger energy storage capacity in the same space may be constructed.

Particularly, the end plate is a part installed to surround both ends ofthe stacking direction of the battery cells 17 forming the batterymodule 7 in the conventional general battery module 7 to suppress aswelling phenomenon of the battery cells 17 and contribute to securingstructural rigidity of the battery module 7. According to the presentdisclosure, since the second internal member 5 is configured to be usedin place of the function of the end plate, it may be possible to preventsuch an end plate from being installed in the battery module 7 used inthe present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 6 to 8, side wall portions 21 facing the batterycells 17 may be provided perpendicular to the lower panel 1 of the case9 to support surfaces of the battery cells 17 disposed at the ends inthe stacking direction of the battery cells 17 of the battery module 7in a flat manner, and as a result, the second internal member 5 may beused in place of the function of the end plate of the battery module 7as described above. In order for the side wall portions 21 of the secondinternal member 5 to replace the function of the end plate as describedabove, a height H2 in which the side wall portion 21 protrudes upwardfrom the lower panel 1 may be formed to be about ⅔ or more of a heightH1 of the battery module 7.

As described above, the battery modules 7 mounted in the case 9 may beinstalled so that a first side thereof is supported by the secondinternal member 5 performing the function of the end plate, and may beinstalled so that a second side thereof is supported on an inner sidesurface of the straight side portion 13 of the case 9, thereby making itpossible to provide the supporting force and structural rigidity capableof suppressing the swelling phenomenon of the battery cells 17 to thebattery modules 7. However, referring to FIG. 1, as described above, afirst side of the battery module 7 may be supported by the secondinternal member 5, but a second side thereof may not be supported by thestraight side portion 13 of the case 9.

According to the present disclosure, in preparation for such a case, tosupport the surface of the battery cell 17 on the side that is notsupported by the second internal member 5 among both ends in thestacking direction of the battery cells 17 of the battery module 7, anindependent end plate 23 fixed to the case 9 may be provided, and anassembly structure of such a battery module 7 is specificallyillustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

The independent end plate 23, which is a separate component from thebattery module 7, may be fixed to an upper side of an auxiliary supportbar 25, which is fixed to the upper side of the lower panel 1, asillustrated, to be installed to support the battery module 7, and mayalso be directly fixed to the lower panel 1 by omitting the auxiliarysupport bar 25. In particular, the independent end plate 23 mayintegrally include an inclined bracket 27 that forms a supporting forcesupporting the surfaces of the battery cells 17 as a cross sectioninclined with respect to the surfaces of the battery cells 17, therebymore firmly supporting the battery module 7.

The second internal member 5 is a structure in which the side wallportions 21 for supporting the surfaces of the battery cell 17 disposedat the ends in the stacking direction of the battery cells 17 of thebattery module 7 are provided on both sides, and an insertion space 29for inserting another object may be provided between the two side wallportions 21. A battery controller 31 may be inserted into the insertionspace 29 of the second internal member 5 as illustrated in FIG. 8, aconnector of the battery controller 31 may be disposed toward the upperside of the second internal member 5, and the battery controller 31 maybe fixed with a bolt or the like using the upper side surface of thesecond internal member 5.

Therefore, the connection and disconnection of the connector forelectrically connecting or disconnecting the battery controller 31mounted as above to or from the outside may be formed more easily, andby configuring the battery controller 31 to be inserted into the secondinternal member 5 as described above, the space that had to be providedseparately for installing the conventional battery controller 31 may bediverted to other purposes, such as further adding the battery cells 17or using the space to secure an interior space of a vehicle body.

As described above, according to the present disclosure, by increasingan energy storage capacity of the battery by additionally installing thebattery cells 17 in the space secured by removing the end plate from thebattery module 7 and more efficiently disposing the mounting space ofthe battery controller 31, a mileage of the vehicle may be increased,and a ground clearance and an interior space of the vehicle may be moreappropriately secured and configured, thereby substantially improvingthe productability of the vehicle.

According to the present disclosure, it may be possible to secure safetyand durability from the collision accident of the vehicle, it may bepossible to prevent ignition or explosion due to swelling of the batterycells, and it may be possible to reduce the weight and cost of thebattery system by reducing the number of parts of the battery module,thereby increasing the energy storage capacity of the battery.

Further, it may be possible to additionally mount the battery cells dueto an efficient arrangement of the space for mounting the batterycontroller, and ultimately, it may be possible to properly secure theground clearance and the interior space of the vehicle, therebyimproving the productability of the vehicle.

Although the present disclosure has been shown and described withrespect to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent to thosehaving ordinary skill in the art that the present disclosure may bevariously modified and altered without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A battery mounting structure for a vehicle,comprising: a case having a first internal member disposed to be spacedparallel to an upper side of a lower panel of the case and a secondinternal member disposed perpendicular to the first internal member, andconfigured to accommodate a plurality of battery modules therein usingthe first internal member and the second internal member; and an outerside member provided in a shape that protrudes toward the outside on anouter side of the case, wherein the battery modules are disposed in astacking direction of battery cells parallel to a longitudinal directionof the first internal member.
 2. The battery mounting structure for avehicle of claim 1, wherein the outer side of the case includes straightside portions formed linearly on both sides of the case in parallel withthe second internal member, and bending portions which connect both endsof the two straight side portions and include at least a partially bentportion, and the outer side member is provided in a shape that protrudesfrom the straight side portions toward the outside of the case.
 3. Thebattery mounting structure for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the batterymodule is disposed with both ends in a direction perpendicular to thestacking direction of the battery cells fixed to the first internalmember and wherein at least one of both ends in the stacking directionof the battery cells is supported by the second internal member.
 4. Thebattery mounting structure for a vehicle of claim 3, wherein the firstinternal member is formed of beams having a rectangular cross sectionwith a plurality of closed spaces formed therein; and fixing flanges ofboth ends of the battery module are fixed to an upper side surface ofthe first internal member.
 5. The battery mounting structure for avehicle of claim 3, wherein side wall portions facing the battery cellsare provided perpendicular to the lower panel of the case to supportsurfaces of the battery cells disposed at the ends in the stackingdirection of the battery cells of the battery module in a flat manner,and a height in which the side wall portions of the second internalmember protrude upward from the lower panel is formed to be about ⅔ ormore of a height of the battery module.
 6. The battery mountingstructure for a vehicle of claim 5, wherein the side wall portions ofthe second internal member operates as the end plate of the batterymodule.
 7. The battery mounting structure for a vehicle of claim 3,wherein the second internal member has side wall portions for supportingsurfaces of the battery cells disposed at the ends in the stackingdirection of the battery cells of the battery module provided on bothsides thereof, and an insertion space for inserting another object isdisposed between the two side wall portions.
 8. The battery mountingstructure for a vehicle of claim 7, wherein a battery controller isinserted into the insertion space of the second internal member, and aconnector of the battery controller is disposed toward an upper side ofthe second internal member.
 9. The battery mounting structure for avehicle of claim 8, wherein the battery controller is fixed using anupper side surface of the second internal member.
 10. The batterymounting structure for a vehicle of claim 3, wherein an independent endplate fixed to the case is provided to support the surface of thebattery cell on a side that is not supported by the second internalmember among both ends in the stacking direction of the battery cells ofthe battery module, and the independent end plate integrally includes aninclined bracket that forms a supporting force supporting surfaces ofthe battery cells, as a cross section inclined with respect to thesurfaces of the battery cells.